Around Ireland War of the Roses

By Patrick Markey

For years the Rose of Tralee contest has drawn beauty competitors of Irish heritage from all over the globe.

But this year organizers have split over the most divisive of issues — money.

The Irish Times reports that the Rose of Tralee Festival committee has dissociated itself from a breakaway group, the Irish Rose Ball, which was to be held in London.

Last year, the original festival committee asked the various Rose of Tralee centers around the world to contribute £1,500 to the running of the event. But members of some British groups disagreed and split from the main group.

Britain is still represented at the festival, but a separate Irish Rose Ball will take place on in a Kensington hotel, sponsored by the local newspaper, the Irish Post.

Norah Casey, chief executive of Smurfit Media UK, stressed the importance of maintaining links between Ireland and Irish people living in England.

"We have five great girls — all intelligent, career-minded women who will take part in the first gala Irish Rose final," she said.

No matter. The chairman of the Rose of Tralee Festival, Neill O Loingsigh, said the Irish Rose Ball had no connection with the famous Kerry event.

"We don’t want to comment on organizations that aren’t affiliated to the Rose of Tralee," he said.

When Galway girls go bad

You can find a lot of things in Galway’s nightclubs: drinks, dancing and West of Ireland accents.

But not, apparently, the sort of girls you’d take home to your mother.

At least that is the view of one local judge, who refused to extend the late night opening hours for a number of night spots. Respectable local men have told the judge that the local lasses at the clubs are, well, dreadful.

"If people want to go out, let them go out on time. Why wait until 12:30 a.m.? It’s uncivilized. Let’s face it, it’s attracting the wrong sort of people," Judge John Garavan told Galway District Court, according to the Connacht Tribune.

Refusing the license extension, Judge Garavan asked about the ordinary respectable citizens of Galway, and their fears of mayhem on the streets.

Kiss and make up

Two Monaghan brothers were each fined £350 by a District Court judge for engaging in conduct contrary to the Public Order Act — to be more precise, trying to kiss two gardai through the window of the police patrol car.

The Anglo Celt reports the court heard that Kieran Cadden, who’s 20, and his 19-year-old brother, Seamus, were involved in a squabble with another man on a Monaghan street in the early hours of the morning when the two gardai arrived.

When the gardai pulled up to investigate, one of the men made an obscene gesture to the gardai and then attempted to kiss one of the officers through the window of the patrol car.

Asked if he moved to plant a wet one on one of the gardai, Cadden replied that it was doubtful if he did this. "You don’t go to kiss a Garda," he said to laughter in court.

Cadden stated that when the two gardai got out of the patrol car he attempted to say something to them but was grabbed by the throat and pushed down on to the front of the patrol car. He didn’t use any foul language until the gardai became aggressive with them.

The judge accepted the evidence of the Garda. Both defendants were under the influence of alcohol on the occasion. He fined each of them for being in breach of the Public Order Act.

School protest

Some kids just can’t hack school — or the discipline of learning.

Others take it much further.

The Tullamore Tribune reports that a 17-year-old boy recently defecated on the carpets of the vice principal’s and principals’ offices of a secondary school, the local District Court was told.

Philip Cuttler was convicted of damaging carpets the property of Edward McEvoy at Tullamore College. Gardai told the court that the defendant entered the school and caused £850 worth of damage to the carpets.

A judge sentenced him to a nine-month detention, which will run concurrently with other sentences being served by the defendant. No reason was given for the incident.